


peter is so grounded

by moorehawke



Category: Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, i worked super hard on the dialogue for this guys pls appreciate me, tony rocks up to peter's careers fair
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-16
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-06-11 08:51:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15311883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moorehawke/pseuds/moorehawke
Summary: From the doors behind Flash, a figure stepped into the hall, and the crowd parted like the Red Sea for Moses. Tony Stark strode into Careers Night like he'd just stepped out of a photoshoot, million-dollar suit and all. He sidestepped the Thompsons, ignoring Flash, who made a noise that was half-awed, half-terrified and sounded something like ‘guh-kff’, and finally came to stand in front of Peter. Lowering his sunglasses and looking over them, he winked."Hi, kid." He said, loud enough for the rest of the hall to hear. "Sorry I'm late."





	peter is so grounded

Before the whole Spider-Man thing, Careers Night would have been one of Peter's favourite events of Senior Year. A chance to talk about his options and his future, get some advice on finding a path that suited him- something fun, exciting, and with a good enough pay grade that Aunt May could stop working the night shift.

 

But now, after the bite...

 

Peter knew his grades were down the toilet. He was failing English Lit, Spanish, AP Biology, and barely scraping his way through Chem. He hadn't looked at his Math marks yet but he didn't have high hopes. It wasn't that he didn't understand the coursework, per se, but with the amount of sleep he was getting it was almost impossible to even stay awake in class these days, let alone answer questions or hand in homework. Ned and MJ had been doing their best to cover for him but even with their help the cracks in his façade were glaringly obvious.

 

The gym hall was packed with stalls of every kind; Science, Hospitality, Journalism, Politics; different universities had representatives to promote their institutions and hand out information packs. The night had officially started about twenty minutes ago, and by now pretty much every student in his year was wandering around with their parents, talking to various university ambassadors.

 

Peter looked down at the interview timetable in his hand. Aunt May had had to pull another triple shift to cover last week's broken window (courtesy of a poorly-timed landing on his part as he returned home from patrol; Peter had tried to say he'd fix it but she'd just ruffled his hair and told him it was fine) so she wouldn't be with him when he went to talk to his teachers. Looked like he was doing this one alone.

 

"Hey, Penis!" Flash's voice, grating as ever, made him look up to where the other boy was smirking at him. His dad stood behind him, one hand on his shoulder, looking distractedly at the table labelled 'Opportunities in Technology'. "Where's your Aunt? Didn't care enough to come?" Peter opened his mouth to reply, but then thought better of it. Instead, he returned his gaze to to his timetable. Flash kept going, though. "Shame, poor Penis Parker, gonna have to face up to your shitty grades alone, huh? No _parents_ for Parent-Teacher interviews?" Okay, that one stung. What was with this dude?

 

The hand holding Peter's timetable shook a little bit, but he ignored it. "If you really have to know," he said through gritted teeth, "my aunt's at work tonight."

 

“Oh, but I guess it doesn’t matter, does it? You’ve got that Stark Internship, right? How’s that going? Have they let you in the front doors yet?” Flash took a breath, clearly about to make up yet another poor excuse for a witty joke, when a wave of gasps and low whispers swept through the crowd. 

 

“is that-?” “No way.” “It _can’t_ be!”

 

From the doors behind Flash, a figure stepped into the hall, and the crowd parted like the Red Sea for Moses. Tony Stark strode into Careers Night like he'd just stepped out of a photoshoot, million-dollar suit and all. He sidestepped the Thompsons, ignoring Flash, who made a noise that was half-awed, half-terrified and sounded something like ‘guh-kff’, and finally came to stand in front of Peter. Lowering his sunglasses and looking over them, he winked.

 

"Hi, kid." He said, loud enough for the rest of the hall to hear. "Sorry I'm late."

 

* * *

 

"Mr Stark, what are you doing here?" Peter hissed. "I mean, not that I'm not grateful and all- and I really am, you shut Flash Thompson up in, like, record time, it was amazing- but don't you have better things you should be doing?"

 

"Not really." Tony said, grabbing a handful of free lollipops from the journalism stall. He offered one to Peter, who took in on instinct, before unwrapping his own and sticking it in his mouth. The university ambassador three feet away looked slightly dazed. "Was in the neighbourhood, saw the banner outside, remembered what you'd said about Aunt Hottie working late this week and figured I should pay you a visit."

 

"That's, uh..." Peter blinked. "That's real nice of you, Mr Stark."

 

"Don't mention it. What kind of boss would I be if I didn't check in on my favourite intern every now and again?"

 

* * *

 

Peter's Chemistry teacher was too stunned at the fact that _Tony fucking Stark_ was sitting across from him to even speak for the first few minutes of his interview. It took a bit of prompting to actually get Peter's result back for his latest class test, but that seems to snap him out of his reverie.

 

"Ah- yes- well, um... Peter- I mean, Mr Parker- is a gifted student with a natural affinity for chemistry." He started. "But his marks, uh, they don't really... reflect this.” The teacher seemed almost afraid to give Tony bad news. 

 

"What does that mean?" Mr Stark asked easily. 

 

"Well, uh... when he hands homework in it's always perfect, but lately he's been... missing some class assignments? And he's often inattentive in class. He fell asleep last Tuesday during our discussion of metal alloys." Mr Stark started to get a Look on his face and Peter shrank a bit in his seat. "I'm sure Peter's grades would improve significantly if he took more time to complete his studies. He seems a little.... uh.... over... worked?" The teacher seemed positively terrified at the fact he's saying this.

 

"Overworked, huh." Mr Stark looked at Peter over his sunglasses. "Thank you for that." He said to the teacher, and got up, pushing the plastic chair in.

 

"Any- anytime." The teacher visibly slumped in his seat as they left.

 

 

* * *

 

The next teacher had the same thing to say about Peter. And the next, and the next. He felt his shoulders raising defensively towards his ears over the course of the evening as Mr Stark slowly developed a very serious expression. After the fifth and final interview, Peter was just about ready to bolt.

 

"OkayMrStarkthankssomuchforcomingseeyouaround-!" He tried to run for it, but there was a firm hand on the handle of his backpack.

 

"Oh no you don't." Mr Stark said casually. "We're gonna have a Talk."

 

Peter wasn't sure he liked the sound of that.

 

* * *

 

Patrols were halved. Training was suspended. And replaced with _tutoring_. At _Stark Tower_.

 

Well, it could have been way worse, but all the same...

 

In the passenger seat of Mr Stark’s car, Peter was babbling nervously. “Mr Stark really I don't need this, I'm fine, I'm just- a bit tired is all! I swear I can do this, it's just with the class test last week I got a bit behind and-"

 

"Kid, zip it. This isn't up for discussion, alright, your aunt said she'd kill me if the whole spider thing started messing with your grades and now here we are and it's _my_ job," here he punctuated he words with a jab of his finger, "to _fix it."_

 

"But Mr Stark I-" 

 

"Nope! Not listening!" They were outside Peter's apartment block now and Mr Stark pressed a button to unlock the car doors. "Go study! I'll have your tutor sorted out by tomorrow."

 

Peter stepped out onto the sidewalk and was halfway up the steps from the curb when Mr Stark beeped and stuck his head out the window. "And kid!" Peter turned. "If I catch you on patrol tonight I'm confiscating the suit!" He accelerated away in a squeal of tires. Peter turned back to the door and let himself in.

 


End file.
